The art of self-care for a patient with Type-1 diabetes typically involves an assortment of professional Health Care counseling, hard-copy guide sheets provided by a Health Care Professional, self-care reading material and improvisation based on well established general principles of how the endocrine system operates. However, this knowledge is hard won and not easily put into practice by patients with Type-1 diabetes.
A person with type 1 diabetes will typically die well within a year without insulin. Even still, not all such persons are willing to make alterations to their (necessary—life sustaining) doses. They administer fixed fast-acting insulin doses in conjunction with meals and rarely, if ever, make alterations to those doses. Additionally, they administer doses of a slower-acting insulin to contend with their background needs (e.g., mobility) not associated with meals.
By contrast, for persons with type 2 diabetes: approximately only 30% of these persons inject insulin, more of those persons can benefit from injecting insulin, and not all of these persons need insulin, meaning diet, exercise and oral “meds” may suffice.
Accordingly, a device and method are provided that automates insulin dosing advice.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of providing instruction to a patient is provided. The method including the steps of receiving an indication of a first dose actually administered; determining if the actually administered first dose differs from an expected first dose; receiving an indication of a second dose actually administered; and determining if the actually administered second dose differs from an expected second dose; such that if the actually administered first dose differs from the expected first dose and the actually administered second dose differs from the expected second dose, then defining a third expected dose using the first actually administered dose and the second actually administered dose.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing instruction to a patient is provided. The method including the steps of: defining a value for a physiological condition as a normal value and defining a usual dose associated with the normal value of the physiological condition; receiving indications of a value of the physiological condition of the patient; determining if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is equal to the defined normal value; if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is equal to the defined normal value, recommending the usual dose; and if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is not equal to the defined normal value, determining a first dose administered in the past when the value of the physiological condition similarly was not equal to the defined normal value and recommending a second dose equal to the first dose.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing instruction to a patient is provided. The method including the steps of: providing an advising computing device; providing the patient with a recommended dose; and instructing the patient to either agree with the recommended dose or to disagree with the recommended dose and input the actually administered dose.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing instruction to a patient is provided. The method including the steps of: providing an advising computing device; receiving a blood glucose reading; and determining whether the received blood glucose reading was taken within a predetermined testing time window; and if the reading was taken within the window, accepting the reading and providing the patient with a recommended dose, and if the reading was taken outside the window, identifying the reading as non-conforming.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing instruction to a patient is provided. The method including the steps of: providing at least one advising computing device; receiving a plurality of communications from the at least one computing device indicating a health hazard; and assembling a listing of the plurality of communications from at least one advising computing device, the communications being arranged so as to prioritize the communications based upon the severity of the health hazard indicated thereby.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer performs steps to provide instruction to a patient, the steps comprising: receiving an indication of a first dose actually administered; determining if the actually administered first dose differs from an expected first dose; receiving an indication of a second dose actually administered; and determining if the actually administered second dose differs from an expected second dose; such that if the actually administered first dose differs from the expected first dose and the actually administered second dose differs from the expected second dose, then defining a third expected dose using the first actually administered dose and the second actually administered dose.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer performs steps to provide instruction to a patient, the steps comprising: defining a value for a physiological condition as a normal value and defining a usual dose associated with the normal value of the physiological condition; receiving indications of a value of the physiological condition of the patient; determining if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is equal to the defined normal value; if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is equal to the defined normal value, recommending the usual dose; and if the value of the physiological condition of the patient is not equal to the defined normal value, determining a first dose administered in the past when the value of the physiological condition was similarly not equal to the defined normal value and recommending a second dose equal to the first dose.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer performs steps to provide instruction to a patient, the steps comprising: providing the patient with a recommended dose; and instructing the patient to either agree with the recommended dose or to disagree with the recommended dose and input the dose the user plans to administer.
Additional features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the presently perceived best mode of carrying out the invention.